软银+英特尔，杀入存储赛道

Core Insights - The collaboration between SoftBank's subsidiary Saimemory and Intel aims to develop a new storage chip technology called ZAM (Z-Angle Memory), which is characterized by high capacity, high bandwidth, and low power consumption [1][2][3] - The project is expected to produce a prototype by the fiscal year 2027 and achieve commercialization by the fiscal year 2029 [1][2] - This technology is specifically designed for AI data centers, addressing the increasing computational demands of generative AI models [1][3] Company Developments - Saimemory, established in December 2024, focuses on the research and development of next-generation storage technologies [3][4] - SoftBank has committed an initial investment of 3 billion yen (approximately 30 million USD) and is the largest investor in the project, which has a total estimated cost of 10 billion yen (about 70 million USD) [4] - The partnership signifies Intel's strategic return to the memory market after previously exiting the Optane storage business and selling its NAND flash operations [4] Industry Context - The demand for computational power in AI model training is growing exponentially, leading to significant energy consumption issues in data centers [3] - Traditional high-bandwidth memory (HBM) solutions have high power consumption, with reports indicating that HBM memory units account for 35% of power consumption in Google's AI data centers [3] - The collaboration between SoftBank and Intel is seen as a potential game-changer in energy efficiency within the AI hardware sector [3]